


Burnout

by dailybooth



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Lance, Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith, Hunk (Voltron) is Filipino bc why not, Langst, M/M, Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Slow Burn, klance, klangst, updating tags as the fic goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-03-28 03:21:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13895175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dailybooth/pseuds/dailybooth
Summary: Lance remembers elementary school, when his grades were thriving and his family had faith in him. His mother had him in those “gifted” classes at a young age, and he passed everything with flying colors. Even in middle school --supposedly the worst years for someone to exist-- Lance was doing great, straight A’s all around!So what the hell happened? Why was he all of the sudden in his room hearing his mother and sister bicker over his future as he watched it all fall apart in front of him? What happened to his motivation, his A average, his happiness?-Lance is a gifted kid burnout. Some would call him lazy, others would say he's unmotivated, and even others would just call him stupid. Even Lance doesn't know what he is anymore. He just knows he wants to turn things around, and there may be someone who can help him.((on hiatus for now))





	1. Reaching Out

**Author's Note:**

> hey this is my first voltron fic! hope u enjoy!
> 
> ((also yes i am still working on "stick like glue" but rewriting is a Process!! hope u understand <3 she'll come out when i can find the time to finish the first chapter))

“Lance, please get a tutor? For me?”

Lance knew his mother really meant it today. He knew she could see his grades slipping again, and he knew he had all the potential in the world.

“Sure, Mamá. I’ll ask Pidge if they know anyone who can help me.”

He retreated to his room and closed the door behind him and slid down the surface until his bottom hit the floor. Lance already heard his mom on the phone with Veronica, who was probably tending to her own studies, yet still taking time out of her day to talk to their mother.

“Mamá, I really don’t think Lance will even make it to college at this rate. What is he going to do?” Lance didn’t know what he was going to do. He’s heard this conversation too many times for him to be as un-stressed as he was. Lance remembers elementary school, when his grades were thriving and his family had faith in him. His mother had him in those “gifted” classes at a young age, and he passed everything with flying colors. Even in middle school --supposedly the worst years for someone to exist-- Lance was doing great, straight A’s all around!

So what the hell happened? Why was he all of the sudden in his room hearing his mother and sister bicker over his future as he watched it all fall apart in front of him? What happened to his motivation, his A average, his happiness? Lance sighed to himself. He could feel his eyes well up a bit, and he let it happen. That mental pile of due dates was only getting bigger by the day, and Lance genuinely couldn’t find a reason not to do any of them, but it was as if his body kept him glued to his bedroom floor. Lance hated this. Lance hated seeing himself not do anything, yet that was all he could do.

He sniffled. He could taste the salt from his tears now, yet he did nothing. He was just tired. Lance stood up to grab his phone from his desk and send a message to Pidge.

_Lance: They’re mad again_   
_Lance: I’m mad too tbh_   
_Pidge: your grades?_   
_Lance: Yeah :/ I feel bad. I’m just constantly disappointing them and they keep believing that I can improve_   
_Lance: But I always go back to my old habits_

He wiped his eyes.

_Pidge: hey lance, you’re defined by more than letters on a piece of paper. i didn’t become friends with you because of your gpa_   
_Pidge: besides it’s not like you’re destined to fail_   
_Pidge: there’s loads of ppl out there willing to help you, me included_

Lance smiled.

_Lance: Thanks man_   
_Lance: I appreciate u_   
_Lance: <3_   
_Pidge: <33_   
_Pidge: you need help in ap world history and geometry?_   
_Lance: Yeah_   
_Pidge: i can help out with geometry if you’d like, and i know some1 who could help with world_   
_Lance: Hunk?_   
_Pidge: no dummy he’s in euro_   
_Pidge: i meant keith_

Oh. Keith. Emo Keith. Too stern, too uptight Keith. The Keith that scolded Lance for clicking his pen too loudly in class Keith.

_Lance: Oh_   
_Lance: Why Keith?? He’s no fun_   
_Pidge: i feel like that’s the least of ur problems rn_   
_Pidge: besides you’ve never even had a full conversation with him_   
_Lance: I don't need to speak to him to know he’s too serious :(_   
_Pidge: idk dude i think he’s your best bet_   
_Pidge: i’ll introduce you guys @ school tomorrow_   
_Lance: Fine_   
_Lance: Gn pidgeotto_   
_Pidge: shut up_   
_Pidge: gn_

Lance really did appreciate Pidge for trying to help him. They and Hunk were always doing their best to bring Lance up from his lowest days. Lance shut off his phone for the night and plugged it back into the charger. He went to the living room to kiss his mother goodnight and retrieve Blue, the family husky. Dog in tow, he headed back to his own room for some shuteye, despite the homework he should be doing. ‘I’ll get to it tomorrow,’ he thinks to himself, even if he knows that won’t happen.

-

“Lance, what grade do you have in geometry right now?” Pidge gave him a glance as they looked over Lance’s textbook and lack of notes. They had met up with Lance in in the school library after class to help him out with homework and lessons he didn’t understand.

“I dunno, like a 37?”

“Jesus Christ.” Pidge flipped through Lance’s notebook for an underwhelming amount of information on every chapter, accompanied by doodles and illegible chicken scratch which were probably his attempt at taking notes while also falling asleep. They closed the books and turned to Lance. “What do you do in class when you aren’t falling asleep?”

Lance thought for a moment. “Mostly go on my phone and bother people in front of me. There’s a guy who sits next to me and thinks he’s all cool because he can play the drums and just taps away at his desk.” Lance imitated said tapping with his fingers. A quick, repetitive, annoying source of noise, Pidge was sure. “Anyways, he always taps like that for no reason! Like, I asked for him to stop and he straight up didn’t care at all. Just kept on tapping.”

“That.. actually sounds like the worst.” Pidge admitted. Yeah, that was kind of a dick move on that kid’s part. Pidge was grateful to already be in Calculus AB, even if a lot of the seniors disliked them for being a sophomore. And only 14, no less. “Even so, Lance, you should probably ask to change seats so you can pay better attention to the lesson.” Lance nodded.

Just then, Pidge’s phone sounded a small ding! They glanced over the message and looked up to Lance. “The backup’s here.”

Lance turned to the entrance to see someone almost too recognizable. Red jacket, black jeans, fingerless gloves (for some reason??), and iconic long, black hair. He made eye contact with Lance before walking over to his table and greeting Pidge.

“Hey Keith!” They stood and gave the boy a hug. “I’m sure you know Lance. Or know of him, at least.”

Lance shot him a hard look, as if to say, “you’d better remember my face, asshole.”

Keith raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, we have world and English together.” He gave Lance a firm handshake. Damn, he’s a little strong. “Pidge told me you’re having a rough time in world right now. Is there anything specific you wanna work on right now?” He sat in the chair across from Lance and looked over the strewn about notebooks and pens on the table.

“Uh, nothing in particular unless you wanna go over literally everything we’ve done this year,” said Lance sheepishly. Keith scrunched up his face slightly at that. “I don’t actually want you to do that. I need some better studying habits because I’ve bombed every test we’ve had so far.”

“Jesus, Lance, world isn’t even that hard a subject,” Keith uttered as he rifled through Lance’s world binder. “How do you study right now that’s causing you to fuck it up that hard?” Lance got a little bitter at that. “Your notes aren’t even half bad, so--”

“I’ve never studied.” Keith was surprised, but let Lance continue. “I haven’t had to study anything before high school. I was good at memorizing stuff before freshman year so I figured it’d be the same here. I don’t know what it means to fully ‘study’ for a test, so I just wing it and.. And I keep fucking it up.” He sighed. Okay, now Keith felt bad for teasing Lance about his grades. “Sorry, I’m oversharing now,” Lance laughed. “Really though, can you help me out with studying and stuff?”

“Um, yeah. Of course,” Keith said. He hadn’t even talked to Lance for more than ten minutes and now he knew the guy’s backstory. Talk about moving too fast.

Keith pulled out his own world binder as well as pens and a stack of index cards. “Let’s get started, then.”

Pidge smiled a little. “I’ll leave you to it, Keith.” They stood up and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “I think this’ll help Lance a lot.”

“I think so too,” said Lance. He hoped this would be the start of a good thing.

 

 


	2. Food and Time Management: a Comprehensive Study

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith meets Lance’s mother and also eats some good food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao this took a lot longer than i expected. but i’m honestly kinda proud of it so i hope u enjoy!
> 
> also the word count is way more than i was planning on but honestly that’s fine lmao

A couple weeks passed as Keith helped Lance with his study habits. The two met up in the library two more times to do homework together (or at least, Keith would do his own work while Lance would, as Keith called it, “do fuck-all,” and pester the other). Unsurprising to Lance, it wasn’t that he was bad at the work in AP World, perse, but rather couldn’t motivate himself to do things. 

“How did you get yourself to do your homework in middle school, Lance?” Keith asked. He was baffled with how little Lance could care about due dates and the like. How did this boy survive?

Lance shrugged. “I didn’t have to worry about much back then. I procrastinated the same way I do now, it’s just harder to get away with in high school, I guess.” He tapped his pencil on the table as he filled out boxes in their most recent worksheet, due two days ago. He had to read some document about classical China and footbinding, and then fill out a table and answer a few questions. His and Keith’s teacher showed the class real pictures of girls’ feet during the process. It was terrifying.

Keith watched Lance fill the paper out at a slow pace. He huffed in annoyance at how long it took Lance to get things done, choosing to doodle on some loose leaf paper in the meantime. After a couple minutes of doodling stars and miscellaneous plant life, Keith got an idea. 

“Lance, you’re coming with me after this to get you a planner.”

Lance stopped writing. “What, why?”

“You obviously can’t manage your time very well, and you don’t remember half the things you have to do every day. We’re getting you a planner. And I’m gonna teach you how to use it.” Keith looked confident in his words. Not that Lance could say he was wrong about anything that was said (though he did feel pretty attacked), but he didn’t see the point in a planner. And that’s exactly what he told Keith. 

“I don’t see the point, though.” Lance put his pencil down. “I tried having a planner in middle school, but I still forgot to look in it so it’d probably be the same now.”

“It’s some kind of psychological thing that writing stuff down helps you remember stuff better. Besides, you probably didn’t try that hard to keep your planner up back then.” Lance scoffed at that. “It’s takes twenty one days to form a habit, Lance. It’s not that deep.” Keith glanced at the clock and noticed it was two hours after school ended and the library would close in the next few hours. He packed up his things, looking over to Lance and silently encouraging him to do the same. “C’mon, Lance. We can just go to Office Depot and get you some stuff.”

The two boys left the school library and walked to Keith’s car, throwing their bags in the trunk. The drive there was fairly quiet, what with them still being unfamiliar with each other. The only sound in the car was Keith’s radio, and Lance humming along to the songs he knew. 

“What music do you like, Keith?” Lance asked, breaking Keith’s silence. 

Keith shifted his hands on the steering wheel. “I dunno, a mix of stuff. Weezer, Queen, Panic! at the Disco, Kanye—“

“Weezer? Panic?” Lance was slightly intrigued by that. “Not to be rude, Keith, but that’s a little emo.”

“Hey, Panic’s still a good band! Even if there is only one guy left and the band is pretty much a shell of what they once were.” Lance laughed a little at the last statement. “Why, what music do you listen to, if my taste is so ‘emo’?”

“Oh, I listen to the goods,” Lance said, leaning back in his chair. “Shakira, Selena, Beyoncé, Kanye, Drake—“

“So what you’re saying is, you’re basic?” Keith smirked. 

Lance scoffed in fake offense. “Excuse me? How dare you say that about Selena! Dreaming of You is and always will be a damn treasure.” He crosses his arms and turned to face the window as Keith laughed. Keith saved the fact that they had Kanye in common, figuring it would be useful information later down the line. 

Keith pulled into the parking lot of Office Depot and they both headed for the store. Lance looked around at the highlighters and stationary while Keith went to the planners and grabbed one for his, er, acquaintance. Were they friends at this point? Keith didn’t really know. 

“Hey Lance, are you done?” Keith heard a ‘yeah, just a sec’ in response, followed by Lance holding two handfuls of different pens, highlighters, and a single pencil. “Lance, they have baskets. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know,” Lance said, kind of struggling with his lack of free hands. “I just didn’t wanna get one.” 

“You’re paying for those,” Keith replied. “I’m buying this for you because you need it.” He held up a small blue planner. Lance smiled and said a small thank you before they both got in line. 

They bought their stuff and walked back to the car.

“Keith, do you wanna stay over at my house for a bit? My mom’s making dinner and I figured you could help me with this planner shit.” Lance mumbled an ‘if you want to though I don’t mind if you don’t’ but Keith couldn’t quite hear it. 

“Um, sure. Just tell me the directions and we can do that.” 

Lance pointed out every street Keith had to turn on, and they sang along to various songs on the radio on the way to Lance’s house. The two boys grabbed their things and made their way to the front door.

“Ma, I’m home!” Lance shouted. They were greeted by Blue as they walked in. 

Blue looked to Keith, the newcomer, and proceeded to sniff him, gauging if he was friendly or not. Keith held out a cautious hand, letting her sniff before she accepted it and let him pet her head. Keith smiled at her and crouched down to properly pet her with both hands. The right way. 

“Lance, hello!” Cecilia McClain made her way to the living room to greet her son. “And who’s your friend, mijo? I’m Cecilia,” she said, holding her hand out for Keith. 

“Keith Kogane, it’s nice to meet you, ma’am.” Keith shook her hand. 

“Keith! A nice name.” She turned to Lance. “He’s staying for dinner, yes?”

“Yes, Mamá, if you don’t mind,” 

“Okay, well you two go have fun, I’ll call you down when dinner’s ready!” She went back to the kitchen to continue whatever it was she was making while Lance and Keith headed upstairs to the the former’s room. 

Keith looked around at Lance’s posters from various concerts he went to. The 1975, Troye Sivan, Blink-182, and still, more (“What, no Beyoncé?” asked Keith. “Nah,” Lance answered. “Tickets are expensive as hell, man.”). There was one band in particular that caught his eye.

“Simple Plan? Really, Lance?”

“What, what’s wrong with Simple Plan?”

“I’m just saying, if you wanna shame me for listening to Panic, then you’re not allowed to listen to Simple Plan. I’d say they’re a fuckton more emo,” Keith remembered the edge and angst that came with Simple Plan: the “you don’t understand me” type of vibes. Yeesh. 

“In my defense, that was my first concert ever,” Lance said as he joined Keith in front of the poster. “I think I was about nine or ten at the time, and my older sister Veronica was a huge fan. My parents wouldn’t let her go if she didn’t take me though.” He laughed. “I didn’t really know their music at the time, but I’ve listened to them ever since.”

Keith nodded in understanding. “That’s actually pretty cool. Also, you have a sister?”

“Yeah. She’s seven years older than me and finishing college this year. I also have my older twin brothers Luis and Marco, and they’re freshmen in college right now. I’m the baby, I guess.” Lance sat down on the bed, and Keith joined him. 

“Sounds nice,” said Keith.

“Yeah, until all the standards from your older siblings get thrown onto you and you have to deal with not being as good as them every report card,” Lance huffed. Keith stayed silent, thinking over what was just said. “Sorry, I’m over sharing again.” Lance looked to the Office Depot bags. “So, planner?”

“Yeah.” Keith grabbed the bags from Lance’s desk and splayed everything out over the bed. “I guess it’s a good thing you bought all that stationary because that’s how I set up my planner too. I don’t know how I’d guide you through this, otherwise.”

“Yeah, okay,” Lance said, looking over everything. “I still don’t get it, but okay.”

“So,” Keith started as he flipped to the current date, “when I fill in my planner, I make it look nice on purpose and organize everything so that when I check things off it’s more satisfying than looking at a to-do list.” He pulled out his own red planner from his backpack and showed Lance the pages to give him an idea of what he was talking about. 

“So, just make it pretty and hopefully that’s enough?”

“Pretty much.” Keith closed his planner and came back to Lance’s.

“No offense but this shit’s pretty nerdy.” Lance wasn’t about to lie about it. “Also kind of boring?”

“Pidge does the same thing. If you want a more intense version just take a look at theirs.” Keith shifted to lay down on Lance’s bed. “I know it’s not for everyone and this might’ve been a pointless purchase, but you do need to be more organized,” said Keith to the other. “The very least you can do is just write down stuff on your phone and look at it when you get home or something.”

“Yeah, all right.” Lance moved to put the stuff away for the time being. “I can figure it out tomorrow since I finished everything I have to today.” He grabbed his laptop from his backpack and opened up Netflix and laid down on the comforter next to Keith. “Anything you wanna watch?”

“You down for Parks and Rec?”

“Hell yes.” Lance typed the title in and they got started in the middle of season two, where Lance left off previously. On their second episode, Blue came into Lance’s room and settled herself next to the bed, right where Keith could reach down and pet her while still being able to watch the show. Perfect. 

“How long have you had your dog?” Keith scratched her ear and she happily leaned into the touch. 

“About thirteen years, I think? We found her when I was three or so.”

“Found?”

“Oh, that’s a good story.” Lance turned Parks and Rec down a tad so it became background noise in their conversation. “Veronica was actually walking home from the bus stop after school with her friend, and she saw this dog walking after her. She figured it was just some random stray, and didn’t really do much about it because she figured it’d leave after a while. But it kept following her down the block and when Veronica started running the dog went after her too!  
“The dog followed her all the way to our house and Veronica was terrified that this dog was gonna attack her. When my mom opened the door she came in all like ‘Mamá, it’s gonna kill me!’ and when we look behind her we just see this adorable dog and we just.. I don’t know. Felt bad, I guess?  
“We took her to the vet the next day and it turned out she wasn’t chipped, and she didn’t have a collar when we found her. The vet thought she might’ve been a runaway from the pound and ended up in our neighborhood. When we found that out, we decided to keep her for ourselves, and the rest is history!”

“Wow,” Keith said, looking back to Blue again. “She’s such a sweet girl, and thirteen years old? That’s actually pretty crazy.”

“Yeah, she’s getting old, but she’s still kicking.”

They were interrupted by Cecilia calling for them. 

“Lance! Keith! Dinner’s ready!”

“Coming, Ma!” Lance yelled back. He hit pause on Parks and Rec and they both went downstairs to eat. 

“We’re having ropa vieja tonight!” Cecilia placed the pot with the beef stew on the dining table as Lance went to the cupboard to grab plates. 

“Oh heck yeah! Gracias Mamá.” Lance set the plates down and gave his mother a peck on the cheek. 

“Thanks so much for the food, Mrs. McClain.”

“Oh, don’t be so formal! Just call me Cecilia. All that ‘Mrs.’ stuff makes me sound old,” she laughed. 

The three of them sat down at the table and ate happily. This was Keith’s first time having ropa vieja and he couldn’t say he was disappointed. 

“This is amazing!” Keith said between bites.

“Oh, you’re too kind!” Cecilia replied. “You know, Lance doesn’t invite his friends over often, so you must be very special.”

“Actually Ma, we only became friends recently.” said Lance. “He’s been helping me with studying and stuff for World.”

“Oh really? That’s great!” She clapped her hands. “I’m glad you’re helping him out. He needs all that he can get.”

“Hey! Are you saying I’m dumb?!”

“Of course not, mijo! You just need that push to do things!”

The dinner conversation continued in a similar fashion, with Cecilia asking Keith questions, then proceeding to tell embarrassing stories about Lance related to the questions. Keith ended up learning a lot about Lance, like when he made a girl cry by giving her grasshoppers in an attempt to impress her. 

“I didn’t know she didn’t like bugs!” he said in retaliation. He huffed and crossed his arms. 

Cecilia turned to Keith once more. “What about you, Keith? Have you ever done grand gestures for a girl?” Keith thought that was a weirdly specific question, but he went along with it, nonetheless.

“Actually, in middle school, I asked a girl out over the intercom by reciting a poem I wrote to her in English class.” he said sheepishly. 

“Wow, Keith,” said Lance, “That’s wild even for me.”

“What did she say?” asked Cecilia.

“She actually said yes, but I broke up with her like a month later,” he laughed. “I realized that I didn’t really like and I was, um,” he mumbled the last part: “that I was gay.”

“Gay?” Cecilia cocked her head. ‘Shit, I fucked up,’ Keith thought to himself. 

“Uh, yeah. Gay.”

“Oh, that’s just fine, Keith! I didn’t hear you the first time, is all.” She smiled. He let out a relieved sigh. “Lance actually likes both boys and girls, and when he told me he kept mumbling because he thought I was against it, and somehow mumbling would make it better.”

“Sorry. But I mean, you never really said anything about it, Ma,” said Lance, getting up to put his plate in the sink. He offered to pick up the other two’s things as well, putting them all away before coming back. 

“That’s alright, mijo, you can come to me with anything you want though, and you know that!”

“Yeah, Mamá, I know,” he pushed his chair in and gave her a quick hug. “Keith, it’s getting a little late now. Do you wanna go home?”

Keith checked his phone for the time. Nine pm. Damn. 

“Oh— yeah I should probably get going.” Keith stood up and pushed his own chair in before joining Lance to retrieve his things. 

“Thank you for the food, Cecilia. It was amazing and I really appreciate you letting me join you guys for dinner.”

“Oh, of course, Keith! Let me know when you’d like to come over again and I’d be happy to make you something.” She gave him a tight hug before saying her goodbyes and Keith went back to his car, Lance following him out. 

“Hey Keith, thanks for helping me out, and being nice to my mom,” Lance said. “I know she can be a lot sometimes, but I think she really likes you.”

“Of course, Lance. Honestly, your mom’s pretty cool. And her food was amazing. Please have me over again just so I can eat more.” 

Lance laughed. “Will do.”

“See you tomorrow, Lance.”

“See ya.”

Keith got into his car and drove home. Lance walked back into his house and grabbed a glass of water. 

“He’s cute, no?” Lance’s mother said, washing the dishes. 

“Ma, no. Too soon for that.”

“Keith is so nice!” She put a plate onto the drying rack. “Tell me, mijo, is he the same Keith who you thought was cute freshman year?”

“Maybe,” Lance replied. He didn’t want his mother meddling in his love life, especially after he’d gotten over the dumb crush, if he could even call it that. It was more of a ‘hey you’re hair is kinda stupid but your face is pretty good’ type of deal. 

“You two would be wonderful together, I just know it.”

“I don’t really think of him like that anymore, though.” Lance rinsed his glass and joined it with the plates and such on the drying rack. “Besides, what makes you say that?”

“Oh, just mother’s intuition.”

“Yeah, okay Mamá” Lance said goodnight to her before heading back up to his room with Blue and finishing some more Parks and Rec.

“Mother’s intuition,” he mumbled to himself. “What the crap does that even mean?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohoho mother’s intuition?? what could that mean
> 
> ok so i plan on updating once every two weeks at the very least. but i’m on spring break rn so it might be a lil more frequent for a bit idfk


	3. not an update i’m so sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dumb excuses for why i haven’t updated (plus shameless self-promo) ((don’t kill me sry for no updates))

i feel Really bad abt saying this but i think i’m gonna just ,, leave this fic be for a few more months

i know, i already did this w my last fic and i wanna @ least Finish something one of these days!! but i am not a writer!! it’s so hard for me to get this sort of thing done!!!! i suck Ass at writing and i can only ever write good shit like,, twice a year

that being said, if u still wanna see stuff from me, i actually do have an art acc on insta: (@mintmango.png). i also have a tumblr (mint-mango.tumblr.com) but i don’t post there often, mostly bc i only have like 15 followers skjdndnsn

ok bye, maybe one day i’ll come up w/ an update to this fic but that day isn’t today

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit : jesus i just saw all the typos where my phone corrected “fic” to “fix” so i changed those up lmao

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment what you think, and kudos is always appreciated <3


End file.
